The Martian by Andy Weir is definitely one for science and math geeks. Mark Watney is on a spaceflight to Mars and wants to be the first astronaut to walk on the surface. He didn't know he might be the first one to die there. The first few sentences of the book expresses this succinctly. While exploring the planet, a fierce dust storm arises forcing the crew back to the ship and then back to Earth. One of their crew is killed during the evacuation and left on Mars. But dead he is not! Now he is stranded on a planet with no communications, limited food but enough water and oxygen as long as his equipment keeps working. His habitat and equipment were designed to last only thirty days. Poor planning on NASA's part!
Mark Watney has one of those can-do personalities. He'd rather think of solutions then wait for death. He wants to survive and he must communicate to Earth that he is still alive. Will his knowledge of engineering and botany keep him alive until rescue comes?
Mark keeps a journal of log entries, so others will know what he went through. He projects an upbeat personality but the time spent alone takes a toll on him.
Except for the technology, this is an old fashioned science fiction novel. It is the theme of Everyman against the unknown. The Martian was first self-published in 2011. Turned down by publishing houses, he put the book on his own website, one chapter at a time for free. At the request of fans, he made an Amazon Kindle version available. It sold 35,000 copies in three months and was picked up by Crown Publishing. Now it has been made into a feature film starring Matt Damon as Mark Watney.
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